The Stage

TV Review

Published Monday 4 April 2005 at 16:40 by Harry Venning

It was Star Wars that did for the old Doctor Who. Once you had witnessed an Imperial Battlecruiser pass across an entire cinema screen for what seemed like forever, extras in tinfoil suits running around plywood sets would never quite hit the mark again.

But the magnificence of the Doctor Who theme music remained undiminished by time, trends or taste. Sinister, intriguing and urgent, the theme created an air of anticipation in the viewer that was, more often than not, left sadly unfulfilled.

Not tampering too much with the theme tune is the first of many things that the brand new series of Doctor Who has got right.

It heralded a fabulous, imaginative, funny and sometimes frightening reinvention of the esteemed, if somewhat time ravaged, Time Lord. Eagerly anticipated, the new Doctor Who was well worth the wait. Like the physics-defying Tardis, it was hard to believe that a humble 45 minutes could contain so many great lines, memorable scenes, shocks, plot twists, special effects and surprises. Even the tiresome problem of exposition was inventively solved, courtesy of an internet conspiracy theorist, tracing The Doctor through history.

Russell T Davies’ script may have been knowing and witty but it wisely avoided parody or pastiche. It took the threatened conquest of humanity by shop window dummies very seriously indeed - and quite right too. The opening scene, which found shop assistant Rose Tyler terrorised by a basement full of animate mannequins was about as scary as an early Saturday evening would allow.

In stark contrast to the female assistants of old, who were fit only to scream or be captured, Billie Piper’s Rose has all the makings of an action hero in her own right. Displaying disbelief over an extended period is a trial for any actor new to Doctor Who but Piper came through this rite of passage with flying colours. She is compelling, charismatic and adept at comedy. Shallower reviewers than myself would also point out that she is very sexy. Had someone had the courage to cast a woman as Doctor Who, Billie Piper would have made a good one.

Instead we have Christopher Eccleston who, ironically enough, is the show’s biggest disappointment. A very fine actor when cast in heavy dramas, Eccleston looks uncomfortable playing fantasy. Behaving impishly is clearly torture to the poor chap. Suffice to say, that when Eccleston’s Doctor finally confronted the sentient blob of lava manipulating all the chaos, it was the blob’s performance I found more convincing.

Sad to say, there is absolutely nothing convincing about Fingersmith, apart from its very atmospheric recreation of 19th century London. Based upon Sarah Waters’ pastiche Victorian mystery, it tells the tale of Maud and Sue, two young women from contrasting backgrounds whose fortunes - and affections - become entwined courtesy of duplicitous rogue Mr Rivers (Rupert Evans) and his wicked schemes.

Fingersmith seemed in an awful hurry to tell its tale and was all the worse for its haste. The novel’s storyline has been hacked back to the bone, abandoning all psychological complexities or nuance of character. What remains is a handsomely presented but faintly ridiculous melodrama, peopled by caricature cockneys with ‘gor’ blimey accents’, more in the spirit of The Two Ronnies than Wilkie Collins.

As for the salacious thrill-seeker, labouring through Fingersmith in the hope of some raunchy girl on girl action, it would have proved a very disappointing hour indeed.

Mr Harvey Lights a Candle was a rather endearing, if slightly sentimental one-off drama about an inner city school’s trip to Salisbury cathedral.

Timothy Spall played the aloof and introverted teacher of the title - popularly known to staff and pupils alike as The Incredible Sulk - for whom the journey brought up particularly distressing memories. Meanwhile, his colleagues and the coach driver were more concerned with maintaining order and not leaving anyone behind.

While most of the mischief on the coach was high spirited and harmless, one pupil vindictively avenged a perceived sleight to his girlfriend by stealing Mr Harvey’s wallet. Inside was an irreplaceable photo of his dead wife, taken on their engagement day. The theft and subsequent defacement of the photo unleashed rage, recriminations and regret in the formerly taciturn master.

Mr Harvey Lights A candle was very ambitious in its themes, which embraced suicide, self harm, religion, graffiti art, toleration, bullying, architecture and rap music. But at its core stood an intelligent, moving and engaging story of empathy and understanding across generations, class and the classroom.

Details:

Doctor Who - BBC1, Saturday, March 26, 7pm

Fingersmith - BBC1, Sunday, March 27, 9pm

Mr Harvey Lights a Candle - BBC1, Saturday, March 26, 10.05pm